“Georgiana, I—I mean, we couldn’t. Word would get back to the Prince of Wales and he’d be angry with Binky.”

“What for?” I asked. “We’re just carrying on our normal family traditions to make them feel welcome.”

She stared at me hopefully. “Do you really think we dare?”

“Let me put it this way: how long do you want them to stay here?”

“We’ll do it,” she exclaimed. “We’ll turn it into a castle of horrors!”

The sound of laughter erupted down the hallway from the direction of the drawing room. “And I should go and remove the whiskey decanter from those two cousins of yours,” she said. “They break things when they get drunk.”

“I suppose I should come and say hello,” I said hesitantly.

“You should.” Fig strode ahead. She pushed open the drawing room door. Two young men in kilts looked up as we came in. The room was in a fog of cigar smoke—Binky’s cigars, I suspected.

“Och, hello, Cousin Fig. Come and join us,” one of them said. “We’re just celebrating the removal of the American terror.”

“And finishing Binky’s good Scotch, I notice,” Fig said, holding up an almost empty decanter. “When it’s gone there isn’t any more, you know. We’re absolutely paupers, Murdoch.”

Murdoch’s eyes drifted past her to see me standing in the doorway. “And who’s yon bonnie wee lassie?”

“This is your cousin Georgiana,” Fig said. “Georgiana, these are your cousins Lachan and Murdoch. I don’t believe you’ve met for many years.”

Two giants with sandy hair rose to their feet. They were both wearing kilts. One had a red beard and looked like the Rannoch ancestors come to life. Then I looked at the other. He was clean shaven and was—well, rather good-looking. Tall, muscled, rugged. Like a Greek god, in fact. He held out his hand to me. “No, this is never little Georgie. Remember when you used to make me play at being your horse and carry you around the estate on my back?”

“Oh, that was you.” I smiled, the memory returning. “I do remember when Murdoch threw that tree trunk through the window.”

“Och, he does things like that,” Lachan said, still smiling down at me and still holding my hand. “So come and sit down, have a wee dram, and tell us what you’ve been doing.”

“I’ve just had a drink with Fig,” I said, in case she thought I might be joining the enemy. “And I’ve been leading a blameless life in London. How about the two of you?”

“Running the estate, mainly,” Murdoch said. “We can’t afford the manpower any longer so we both have to work like dogs to make a go of it.”

“Apart from the times you’re away at your Highland Games,” Lachan pointed out.